Kings, The Books of - The two books of Kings formed originally but one book in the Hebrew
Scriptures. The present division into two books was first made by the LXX., which now, with the
Vulgate, numbers them as the third and fourth books of Kings, the two books of Samuel being the
first and second books of Kings.
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They contain the annals of the Jewish commonwealth from the accession of Solomon till the
subjugation of the kingdom by Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians (apparently a period of about
four hundred and fifty-three years). The books of Chronicles (q.v.) are more comprehensive in their
contents than those of Kings. The latter synchronize with 1 Chr. 28-2 Chr. 36:21. While in the
Chronicles greater prominence is given to the priestly or Levitical office, in the Kings greater
prominence is given to the kingly.
The authorship of these books is uncertain. There are some portions of them and of Jeremiah that
are almost identical, e.g., 2 Kings 24:18-25 and Jer. 52; 39:1-10; 40:7-41:10. There are also many
undesigned coincidences between Jeremiah and Kings (2 Kings 21-23 and Jer. 7:15; 15:4; 19:3,
etc.), and events recorded in Kings of which Jeremiah had personal knowledge. These facts
countenance in some degree the tradition that Jeremiah was the author of the books of Kings. But
the more probable supposition is that Ezra, after the Captivity, compiled them from documents
written perhaps by David, Solomon, Nathan, Gad, and Iddo, and that he arranged them in the order
in which they now exist.

The sources of the narrative are referred to: (1) "the book of the acts of Solomon" (1 Kings 11:41);
(2) the "book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah" (14:29; 15:7, 23, etc.); (3) the "book of the
chronicles of the kings of Israel" (14:19; 15:31; 16:14, 20, 27, etc.).

The date of its composition was some time between B.C. 561, the date of the last chapter (2 Kings
25), when Jehoiachin was released from captivity by Evil-merodach, and B.C. 538, the date of the
decree of deliverance by Cyrus.